April 20, 2009

Sweden stages protests over Pirate Bay verdict

OVER 1,000 supporters of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay demonstrated in Swedish towns on Saturday against a court's conviction of the internet site's organisers.

On Friday, the Stockholm district court sentenced Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom to one year in prison each for helping millions of Pirate Bay users commit copyright violations of films, music and computer games.

The court also ordered them to pay 30 million kronor (£2.4 million) in damages to entertainment transnationals, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI and Columbia Pictures.

The entertainment industry hailed the ruling as a landmark decision protecting the rights of those whose livelihood depends on creative activity.

The rallies against "judicial murder" in Stockholm, Goteborg, Karlstad and Lund were organised by The Pirate Party.

The political party, which supports free file-sharing for noncommercial use, said that its membership has risen by over 20 per cent to about 20,000 since the court announced its verdict.

The Pirate Party does not have any formal ties to The Pirate Bay, but has expressed its support of the site on several occasions.

Addressing protesters at the Medborgarplatsen square in central Stockholm, Malin Littorin-Ferm of the party's Ung Pirat youth league demanded that the defendants be freed.

"We young people have a whole platform on the internet, where we have all our social contacts - it is there that we live," Mr Littorin-Ferm said, adding: "The state is trying to control the internet and, by extension, our private lives."